Steve Wade is a content researcher and conference producer at IR Magazine where he is responsible for crowd-sourcing intelligence on the big global issues facing investor relations. Steve also creates events where the IROs and the wider financial community can discuss, debate and learn about ways to develop the IR function.

Prior to IR Magazine, Steven’s background has been in corporate social responsibility and responsible investment. During his time at Ethical Corporation (now Reuters Events), Steve launched the ESG symposium, an event focused on connecting the socially responsible investment community with corporate sustainability leaders at listed companies. Steve was a judge for the Deloitte Green Frog Awards, celebrating the best corporate reporting in Eastern Europe. Steve also presented research at the Global Sustainable Event Summit in London and has spoken about extra-financial reporting with the United Nations Global Compact, the World Bank and the Polish Ministry of Finance.

Steve has a degree in Event Management and enjoys playing rugby in his spare time.

Neil Stewart is the Value Reporting Foundation’s New York-based Director of Corporate Outreach, advancing awareness of the organization’s resources and helping companies world-wide with implementation. He is a member of the Value Reporting Foundation’s Assurance Task Force and oversees the SASB Standards Consultant Content Program. Neil brings to the Value Reporting Foundation more than 25 years of experience in and around investor relations and corporate governance. Previously he was at Citigroup as VP IR Advisory on the ADR team, helping non-US issuers develop IR and ESG strategies. Formerly Editorial & Research Director of both IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary magazine, Neil is a board member of NIRI NY, the New York chapter of the National Investor Relations Institute.

Ulrich Atz is a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Business and part of the NYU Stern Doctoral Program in Accounting. In his prior role as Associate Researcher, he provided quantitative expertise and co-authored the article on the Return on Sustainability Investment (honored with a “best paper” award). His research interests cover sustainability disclosures and ESG information, financial and business innovation, and statistical methods for interpreting data.

He also served as the Chief Measurement & Technology Officer at NYU’s HUMAN Project, a research platform and mHealth startup until its launch as a private company. Before moving to New York City, he worked at the Open Data Institute (ODI), a world-leading organization advocating for the innovative use of open data. As Startup Programme Manager, he grew the number of incubated startups from 25 to 52 and oversaw the ODI’s involvement at the Open Data Incubator for Europe, a €7.8M EU Horizon 2020 project. Over the years, he has trained and consulted hundreds of people on data, statistics, and innovation. He holds a Diploma (BSc + MSc) in Economics from the University of Mannheim and an MSc in Social Research Methods (Statistics) from the London School of Economics. He grew up in South Tyrol, a bilingual region in the Italian Alps.

Tensie Whelan is Clinical Professor of Business and Society and the Director of the Center for Sustainable Business at NYU Stern School of Business, where she is bringing her 25 years of experience working on local, national and international environmental and sustainability issues to engage businesses in proactive and innovative mainstreaming of sustainability.

As President of the Rainforest Alliance, she built the organization from a $4.5 million to $50 million budget, transforming the engagement of business with sustainability, recruiting 5,000 companies in more than 60 countries to work with Rainforest Alliance. She transformed the Rainforest Alliance frog into an internationally recognized and credible brand. Her previous work included serving as Executive Director of the New York League of Conservation Voters, Vice President of the National Audubon Society, Managing Editor of Ambio, a journal of the Swedish Academy of Sciences, and a journalist in Latin America.

Tensie has been recognized by Ethisphere as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics and was a Citi Fellow in Leadership and Ethics at NYU Stern. She has served on numerous nonprofit boards and corporate advisory boards for companies such as Unilever and Nespresso and currently serves on the advisory boards of ALO Advisors, Buzz on Earth, Giant Ventures, Arabesque and Inherent Group. She was most recently appointed to the board of InvestIndustrial SPAC, and is an Advisor to the Future Economy Project for Harvard Business Review and is a member of the “Exploring the Future of Sustainable Production and Consumption” Working Group of the Council on Competitiveness. Tensie holds a B.A. from New York University, an M.A. from American University, and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Owner President Management (OPM) Program. She was awarded the Stern Faculty Excellence Award in 2020.

Maheen Sayeed is a senior associate at IHS Markit

Liz serves as Eaton’s VP and Chief Counsel – Corporate & Securities. In this capacity she is responsible for corporate and securities law compliance. As a seasoned securities, governance and finance lawyer, she advises on all matters relating to disclosure (including ESG), securities regulation, capital markets transactions, corporate governance and corporate law. Liz joined Eaton in 2004.
Prior to joining Eaton, Liz was an associate at Hahn, Loeser & Parks LLP in Cleveland, where her practice focused on 1934 Act compliance, corporate governance, capital markets and public company mergers and acquisitions. She graduated summa cum laude from Case Western Reserve University School of Law and a received her BA from St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY.

Ms. Kamerick consults and lectures on corporate governance and compliance matters and is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and has completed the NACD Director Certification exam. She previously served as CFO of such leading companies as BP Amoco Americas, Leo Burnett, Heidrick & Struggles, and Houlihan Lokey She began her career as a lawyer at the law firm of Skadden Arps and she holds a JD and an MBA, with honors, in Finance and International Business from the University of Chicago. She holds a BA from Boston College where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was valedictorian. She is a member of the Board of Directors for Associated Banc-Corp, AIG Funds, Hochschild Mining, plc, and 23 closed end Legg Mason mutual funds. She served on the Board of Directors for ServiceMaster and IRI before both companies were purchased by private equity firms. She qualifies as an SEC financial expert and chairs three audit committees and one corporate governance committee. She was profiled as a Director to Watch in 2016 by Directors and Boards Magazine and in The Board Game: How Smart Women Become Corporate Directors. She was named among the Most Influential Corporate Directors for 2019 by WomenInc magazine. She also serves on the National Board of Directors of the Alzheimer’s Association. She is a lecturer at University of Chicago Law School, Georgetown Law Center, and University of Iowa College of Law and for the NACD Battlefield to Boardroom board readiness program.

Martin is the Director of ESG & Responsible Investing, leading firm-wide ESG integration and active engagement across all asset classes. Federated Hermes has 68 ESG subject-matter experts and one of the world’s largest ESG engagement databases with 16 years of proprietary data analytics representing over $1.5 trillion in assets under stewardship. He is a senior member of Federated Hermes’ Risk Management Committee, Proxy Voting Committee, Sustainability Leaders Council, ESG Faculty and is a former Equity Portfolio Manager.
Martin is an Adjunct Professor of Sustainable Finance at the University of Rochester, member of the CFA Institute ESG Technical Committee, member of the Harvard Law School Corporate Governance Advisory Council, serves as an advisory member on the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and is a monthly Forbes ESG Contributor.
He graduated from Cornell University magna cum laude with a BS in applied economics, earned a MS in law & accounting from the London School of Economics (LSE) and completed a post-grad in advanced risk management from the Yale School of Management. Martin is a CFA charterholder and FSA credential holder.

Joseph Vicari, Managing director and ESG practice lead for communications and customer experience, Broadridge.
Joseph is responsible for developing innovative solutions for all ESG stakeholders in areas of advisory services, data, and analytics at Broadridge. Joseph has broad experience in product innovation and development, leading large scale strategic technology projects and developing industry transforming communication channels. During his career he has started and led business units, a technology innovation lab, and had various leading roles in strategic planning and development. Joseph’s ventures have led to joint ventures, partnerships and reseller agreements with major multi-national companies, boutique vendors and securities clearing companies.

As director of Climate Research on the Sustainable Investment Team, Chris focuses on investment solutions that share an enduring nature and require critical strategic thinking. He spearheads a collaborative initiative between Wellington Management and Woodwell Climate Research Center (WCRC) to integrate climate science and asset management. This alliance, launched in 2018, is focused on creating investor tools and insights to better understand how and where climate change may impact global capital markets.

Prior to joining Wellington Management in 2014, Chris was head of Portfolio Management – Americas within the Investment Solutions Group at State Street Global Advisors (2010 – 2014). Before joining State Street, he held a number of different investment roles at Fidelity Investments and Pyramis Global Advisors beginning in 1997. Previously, he was a CPA with Kaplan, Moran, Digennaro in the public accounting field (1995 – 1997).

Chris earned both his BA (1995) with a concentration in accounting and his MBA (1997) with a concentration in finance from Bryant University. Additionally, he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst and Chartered Alternatives Investment Analyst designations, and he is a CPA. He is also a professor of finance at Bryant University.

Chad leads investor relations and ESG strategy for Hannon Armstrong (NYSE: HASI), a leading investor in climate change solutions.

Previously, he served in various roles, including structured finance, risk management, and investor relations, with TerraForm Power – an integrated renewable energy company now owned by Brookfield Asset Management. Chad is also a co-founder of and current Board member with Blue Forest Finance, a non-profit focused on harnessing financial innovation to design sustainable solutions to systemic climate resilience challenges. Chad started his career as an intelligence officer operating primarily in the Middle East.

Chad holds degrees from the University of California at Berkeley, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the George Washington University.

Andrea DeMarco serves as the high-profile face and voice of the organization to Wall Street and business and financial media. DeMarco consistently ranks at the top of the prestigious Institutional Investor All-American Executive Team rankings and was recognized by Wall Street as the #1 Overall Best Investor Relations Officer in the Leisure sector for two consecutive years. Under her direction, the Company’s Investor Relations program swept first place overall ranking across all eight categories including Best CEO, Best CFO, Best Investor Relations Program, Best Investor Relations Team and Best Crisis Management Amid COVID-19.

DeMarco has a diverse background of experience in finance, sales, marketing, revenue management and corporate financial planning and analysis. She was an instrumental part of the management team that led the company into previously unchartered territories including a highly successful initial public offering. In addition, she was a part of multiple capital market transactions including eleven equity follow on offerings, the highly successful acquisition of Prestige Cruises International, Inc., and multiple capital market transactions amidst the global pandemic raising nearly $8 billion over a twelve-month timeframe.

Chad Spitler is the Founder and CEO of Third Economy, a sustainable investment research and advisory firm. With over 25+ years of experience building sustainable investment capabilities and corporate sustainability strategies, Chad was recognized in 2020 by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) as one of the “100 most influential people in corporate governance”. Formerly a Partner at PJT CamberView, Chad and his team helped public companies develop engagement strategies with their investors particularly around complex or contested shareholder matters. He is most widely known for his role helping to build what are now BlackRock’s Investment Stewardship, Sustainable Investing and Corporate Sustainability teams. As a Managing Director at the world’s largest asset manager, Chad led the team responsible for analyzing how environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors may impact financial performance, and integrated that analysis into product development, proxy voting and corporate engagement. His work helped facilitate billions of dollars of capital into sustainable investments and catalyzed public companies to integrate long-term thinking into their business strategies.

Chad speaks both publicly and privately with regulators, policy makers, non-profits, academics and the largest global companies and investors, to further the field of sustainable investing and transition the capital markets to a lower carbon economy. He is a member of the Finance Working Group of the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, and the Dean’s External Advisory Board of the University of Michigan’s School for the Environment and Sustainability. He is an Adjunct Professor at San Francisco State University and Presidio Graduate School, and holds an M.A. from the University of Colorado, Boulder and a B.S. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Ari Frankel is a Managing Director and Head of ESG for Solebury Trout’s ESG 360 Team. In his role, Ari advises public and private companies and funds across industries on best practices in ESG governance, strategy, goal-setting, reporting, communications, investor relations, and capital raising and preservation.

Prior to joining Solebury, Ari led sustainability at Alexandria Real Estate Equities, an S&P 500 REIT, where he initiated and managed ESG programming, goal-setting, reporting, and communications. During his tenure at Alexandria, the company issued $1.9 billion in green bonds, achieved “A” disclosure scores and 5-Star Ratings from the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark, and was named in the top 3 most sustainable REITs by Barron’s. He also served as the sustainability committee chair for NAREIT and on the Fitwel Leadership Advisory Board.

Prior to Alexandria, Ari was the Head of ESG Strategy, Real Estate, for Deutsche Asset Management. During this time he served as the North America Co-Chair of United Nations Environment Program Finance Initiative, and worked with investment consultants on ESG matters through his participation in the Ceres Investor Network on Climate Risk & Sustainability.

Ari received his undergraduate degree in Economics from the University of California, San Diego, and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a LEED Accredited Professional, a Fitwel Ambassador, and a trained Climate Reality Leader.

A trained biologist, Alex has an ability to pinpoint exactly how organisations rely on social and natural resources to create value. Lateral thinking comes easily too – a skill he attributes to an unconventional upbringing involving his parents’ seven marriages!

He has worked across two continents as a consummate sustainability professional, having honed his strategy and reporting capabilities in senior management roles at ASX-listed Dexus and Stockland.

Alex has a PhD in climate change risk management. He is an expert in delivering integrated reporting, corporate sustainability strategies, scenario analyses and the TCFD, as well as helping companies respond to key ESG investor benchmarks.

Born and raised in the USA, Alex spent over a decade as a professional in Australia and is a dual citizen of both countries. He heads up BWD’s New York office.

Matt DiGuiseppe is the Vice President of Research & ESG at Diligent Corporation, leading provider of secure board communication and governance, risk and compliance software used by over 700,000 corporate leaders globally. In his role, Matt leads the ESG (environmental, social and governance) Center of Excellence and a research team focused on ESG topics. He is also responsible for ensuring that Diligent meets its ESG commitments, including a pledge to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Previously, as Head of Americas Asset Stewardship at State Street Global Advisors, Matt and his colleagues were responsible for developing and implementing SSGA’s global proxy voting policies and guidelines across all investment strategies and managing SSGA’s proxy voting activities and issuer engagement on material ESG issues. He was also a member of the internal Proxy Review Committee. Prior to this role he held a similar position on the Nuveen (fka TIAA) Stewardship & Corporate Governance Team.

Matt has participated in numerous industry groups and speaks frequently on ESG matters. He was the founding chairperson of the Investor Stewardship Group (ISG), which advanced a set of corporate governance and stewardship principles for the US market that are backed by over 70 members with assets under management in excess of US $32 trillion.

Jennifer is an International and Human Rights lawyer and Chief Sustainability Officer for Philip Morris International (PMI). Ms. Motles joined the company in 2015, when she helped craft PMI’s sustainability strategy, ensuring it was intrinsically linked to the adoption of the company’s vision of delivering a smoke-free future. Since then, she has helped advance PMI’s transformation, honing the company’s sustainability and ESG performance.

Ms. Motles began her career working for the Chilean Office of Drugs & Crime Prevention and Prosecution. She gained international experience working for organizations such as UNCITRAL, UNODC’s Terrorism Prevention Branch, and the UNCTAD/WTO’s International Trade Center. Prior to joining PMI, Jennifer worked for the government of Israel, representing the country as its Human Rights & Humanitarian Affairs Officer at the United Nations and other international organizations.

She holds a JD degree from Universidad de Chile—Escuela de Derecho, and an LLM degree from University of California, Berkeley School of Law, as well as specialized diplomas in Women’s Human Rights, Behavioral Economics, Sustainability, Sustainable Finance, and Political Affairs from IHEID, Harvard Business School, the Harvard School of Public Health, and Stanford University.

Eliza Riego, Head Product and Service Innovation, studied Environmental Studies and Geographic Information Systems prior to joining TMX Group. Having worked in multiple departments at TMX, over the last 12 years, Eliza has been focused on developing products, services and professional development opportunities for publicly listed companies on Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange. Recently, Eliza created ESG 101, a hub for ESG resources for issuers, and co-produced the updated Primer for Environmental & Social Disclosure.

Ben Maiden is the editor-at-large of Corporate Secretary, having joined the company in December 2016. He is based in New York. He had previously been managing editor of Compliance Reporter since January 2007, covering regulatory and compliance issues affecting broker-dealers and asset management firms. Before that, Ben was editor of International Financial Law Review and IFLR’s Americas editor, working in London and New York.

Ben Ashwell is the editor at IR Magazine and Corporate Secretary, covering investor relations, governance, risk and compliance. Prior to this, he was the founder and editor of Executive Talent, the global quarterly magazine from the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants. Before moving to the US, Ben was the vice president and editor at Executive Grapevine, overseeing a daily news website, ten annual supplements and HR Grapevine, the UK’s leading HR and talent management magazine. In his spare time, Ben enjoys rock climbing and writing fiction and poetry.